


Always Trust Your Instinct

by thepriceswepaid



Category: Captain America (Movies), Pokemon GO, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, bucky deserves nice things, bucky has a hobby, good guy Rumlow, pietro makes a brief appearance, takes place after TWS & AoU, triple agent brock rumlow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 10:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7887019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepriceswepaid/pseuds/thepriceswepaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts off as just something to do. Someone gives him a phone pre-loaded with music, a gift card for coins, & Pokémon Go to keep him busy while he proves he's not all that dangerous anymore. (He's still dangerous, but right now he's distracted getting 400 magikarp so he's hardly a threat to national security.) Bucky isn't expecting the game to get this far, but there's something to be said for it bringing people together. By the time he's considered cleared, maybe he'll even be ready to act on something he's been ignoring since he was sprung from HYDRA.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always Trust Your Instinct

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally just fluffy crack, but please enjoy. Brock is based on my triple agent AU, which you can read more about on my Tumblr, readyforyours.

It starts off as just something to do, something to keep him from going stir crazy while he’s waiting for some sort of clearance from SHIELD -- or what remains of it, really. Natasha had handed him the phone during a long drive from New York down to DC. Since they’re moving, he nearly misses the starters, catching a Pikachu first. He’s hooked after that, nabbing a Charmander at a gas station when they stop to stretch their legs. (He can’t fly, and with all the meetings taking place between the relocated SHIELD HQ and the Avengers’ Tower, there’s a lot of driving time. He catches two more Charmanders between Philadelphia and Baltimore, and nabs a Zubat off of Natasha’s head.)

 

He has a Beedrill & a Butterfree by the end of the first week in Washington, and he’s working his way steadily to a Gloom as they wrap up the first round of meetings. By the time they get back to the Tower, he’s decided the game is a nice distraction, at least, but he’s still not ready to venture out too far. He can’t anyway, not without a level 8 operative or higher, or an avenger, with him.

 

Natasha is probably the most supportive, so sometimes they go for long walks by Bryant Park, less than a mile from the Tower and a safe distance for him to be out. Mostly he gets Golbats there. He asks Natasha about the gyms. She tells him to wait until he’s level five, but gives him the heads up that the one in the Tower belongs to Bruce -- no matter how much he denies it. (Unless it’s Mystic, in which case it belongs to either Pietro or Wanda, depending on what pokemon is reigning champ.)

 

* * *

 

 

They’re upstate when it happens, touring the new facility. There’s a Ghastly on his radar, but he can’t find it. The Tower and the facility are open to him so long as he stays within the perimeter so he wanders around, looking for it. He looks up just as he locks in on the damn thing and stops dead in his tracks to see Brock _fucking_ Rumlow working at a desk in front of him.

 

Naturally, the Ghastly is just past him.

 

“... Rumlow.” The other looks up and pauses, too, raising an eyebrow. All things considered, he _doesn’t_ look entirely horrible. Some scarring, a stiffness in his legs as he stands. “Barnes. What brings you here?”

 

Bucky checks the radar again. The Ghastly isn’t going anywhere just yet so he shrugs. “Just keeping busy. I heard they cleared you.” Triple agent, working with SHIELD all along. Apparently detailed to help him get out. No wonder he’d always been considerably _nicer_ than the others.

 

“Yeah, well. Desk duty, an’ facial reconstruction. Not as exciting. … Are you seriously playing that--”

 

“Yeah.” Bucky’s surprised when Brock just gives him an easy shrug and a “good luck.” He nods, and leaves what has to be the second weirdest reunion he’s had in a century. (He doesn’t catch the Ghastly, it runs after two tries.)

 

He hits level 5 with a Ponyta he catches at Times Square a few days after they get home, promptly choosing Team Instinct. Natasha teases him for it, but he feels weirdly happy. A little kid looks up at him in awe as he takes down a low level gym, sticking in a Clefairy to back up his Charmeleon.

 

Two weeks later he’s hunting Magikarp at Battery Park with Sam Wilson when a call comes in and they have to cut the outing short. The team is needed, which means he’s grounded to the Tower until they get back. He lasts about three days before he requests a transfer up to the upstate facility so he can at least get some air. Apparently whatever powers that be feel a little benevolent, and he’s picked up by a quinjet full of supplies for new trainees and dropped off. He forgets about the game for a little while, helping move crates of clay pigeons and uniforms while trainees watch carefully, but he picks it up when he hears about a raid going on in the small downtown area until he finds out no higher ups are attending.

 

The house arrest shit is going to drive him insane, but he keeps his mouth shut. That Ghastly is back, so he might as well catch the purple fucker since he’s grounded to the base for the night.

 

“I figured you’d be out on that raid.” _Figures._

 

“Don’t you know? This Cinderella has an early fuckin’ curfew,” Bucky snorts. “Not allowed out without supervision or I turn into a pumpkin.” The bitterness in his voice could curl paint. Still, Rumlow doesn’t look all the judgmental, just nods, stretching a bit as he stands. The Ghastly is taunting him, so he throws it a Razzberry & tries another pokeball.

 

“Supervision, huh?”

 

“Level eight an’ up. Apparently I’m special.” It’s petty, but he doesn’t get to bitch about it. He deserves it, he knows, and bitching only makes the others feel uncomfortable that they’re maybe not doing enough to help. Rumlow, on the other hand, just nods again, reaching for his badge and his phone which gives the other a pause when he puts everything together. Huh. Well okay. He looks down and the Ghastly is safely tucked in its pokeball. “... You sure?”

 

“Hey, I’m cleared. An’ I need a smoke break. If I happen t’ have a shadow while I’m out then I _might_ be tempted t’ stretch my legs a bit.”

 

Bucky just nods and falls in step beside him. It’s a quiet walk, but the base is empty for now. Rumlow doesn’t seem to mind the brisk air, and they both walk fast enough that cutting through the woods brings them to the small downtown area. It’s nothing more than a strip of street with a few restaurants, a bar, and a movie theater, but he can see the trainees all crowding around one of the gyms so they head in that direction.

 

Rumlow lights up and follows, not seeming to care that he’s solidly in plus one territory. He cruises the streets with the trainees, occasionally checking things on his phone and ashing his cigarette when he can. Bucky catches a Vulpix at the theater, evolves his Pikachu by one of the bars, and stocks up on enough pokeballs to tide him over. He helps try and take down the Valor gym but the leader’s Gengar is still too strong. By the time the group splits up to head back to dormitories and barracks, he’s actually having a good time so he doesn’t mind saying yes to Rumlow’s invitation to snag dinner.

 

They get sandwiches to go, settling by the fountain at the town center so Bucky can try and snag a Clefairy of his own. Brock never comments, and he never makes fun of his enthusiasm for it that night, just makes sure he’s back on base after they eat so no one can say he was unsupervised. Buck is actually a little sad to head back to the Tower once the other’s return from their mission, but he brushes it off.

 

The next few levels fly by, and during those weeks he’s a model citizen. He signs up to help with cleanup efforts after an attack in the city both so he can make himself look better to the higher ups, and also because it means he can be out later for a few events. Wanda tags along and they catch a Growlithe while waiting on a water break. Steve makes a disapproving noise when Bucky gets in late that night, but Pietro and Wanda just shrug -- the three of them have been cooped up for so long they needed the break, and they managed to drag most of the debris safely out of the way so Bucky doesn't understand why Steve's not a little less annoyed. The fact that they caught more Pokémon has nothing to do with how late they were out, anyway. Still, he puts the phone away and doesn't touch it for two weeks after Steve lectures him on at least  _trying_ to act normal. It's rich, coming from Steve, but he gets where he's coming from -- being out in a crowd while he's still under review might not look good. Still, he knows he's not going to snap, and he's starting to resent Steve not having more faith in him. Or maybe it's just being too concerned.

 

Suddenly he feels stifled down in the City, constantly under scrutiny. The next time a supply order comes in for tech for the upstate facility, he signs up to tag along with the Maximoff twins and helps Bruce put together parts for a new lab on the southern side of the sprawling grounds. To help clear his head, he'd told Steve, but it's not helping as much as he'd like. The game is a great distraction to his growing confusion. He's tracking a Scyther by the training grounds when he sees Brock's trainee class working on the turf. Abandoning the game for a bit, he laughs as he watches the other get taken out by a blonde spitfire who kicks his legs right out from under him. The laugh gets him noticed and the rest of his afternoon is spent helping hold targets or spotting for the new bloods as they go through their paces. He gets dinner again with Brock that night and wonders when he stopped being  _Rumlow_ and started being a friend. The answer is probably somewhere between the other pulling him out of hell and treating him like an actual human being, not a weapon that could snap back into his programming at any point unexpectedly. 

 

He surprises himself by saying yes when Brock asks if maybe he wants to stay upstate, help him with this new training class. "I ain't gettin' younger, an' an extra set of hands are always welcome." The walks in town become a more frequent thing even as Brock eventually gives up smoking and Bucky stops trying to take on the gym at every chance he gets. They settle into an easy routine and Bucky hits level 20 when he evolves one of his Eevees into a Flareon, finally ready to take on the gym that now sports a Victreebell in place of its Gengar. He takes it out over dinner and Brock laughs for a few minutes, then takes him right back out out of nowhere.

 

"You fucking  _play?"_

 

_"_ Whose Gengar did you think that  _was_ , Buck?"

 

It's nice, and obviously that means it can't last. Three weeks after he puts in for a permanent transfer upstate he gets called to the Tower. Sure, he's cleared, but he's been spending an awful lot of time with someone who was HYDRA, even if he was mostly loyal to SHIELD, and it makes Steve a little uncomfortable. Brock comes with him though, and between the questioning and the disapproving glances, they hit up Central Park so Bucky can finally evolve his Magikarp and Brock can continue pretending he doesn't play at all. When he finally hits the magic 400, he hits the button and gets a 2000 CP Gyarados, surprising Brock by outright pecking him on the cheek. By the time he hits level 29, they're back upstate and splitting time between their two apartments on base. By the time he's full cleared and vetted, it doesn't matter because they're virtually inseparable. He plays the game less now, mostly picking it up for raids or when they take odd trips into the city. Mostly, he spends time training or letting ~~his boyfriend~~ Brock take him out. 

 

They're lounging in the grass outside of the base one night when Bucky puts his phone down, shutting it off so he can turn and focus on the other. Brock is lying with his arms crossed under his head, phone tucked away. They've always had a sort of chemistry, a relationship of some sort that ran deep than a bond between an asset and a handler, he'd just never known what to think of it. Looking back at how easily Brock just accepted the quirks that came with his stress relief and hobby, he knows he doesn't need a label for it. He settles against him, his head resting over his heartbeat, and smirks. He finally catches the last goddamn Ghastly he needs laying there with Brock on the grass, evolving his little pet project of a Haunter. He shows Brock the Gengar and Brock just ruffles his hair lazily. "Clearly you don't spend enough time in my office if it took you this long."

 

_"Clearly."_

**Author's Note:**

> Bucky is team instinct (alongside Bruce). Brock is team Valor, as is Natasha. Pietro & Wanda are Mystic. Steve & Sam don't play (yet), but Sam's already memorized where all the popular pokéstops are.


End file.
